Thursday, June 30, 2011

So I used to hate scallops.. My folks are great cooks but we never got scallops right. We'd get frozen ones, or sometimes fresh, then add them to dishes which had varieties of shellfish, and they were always the least tasty member of the frutta del mare party. I have suffered through meal after meal, either at a restaurant or in my own kitchen adventures, where scallops are rubbery and tough with a metallic or sour flavor, once even i had it soaked in balsamic and wow that did not work. So why on earth would I be suggesting a scallop dish?? Cause ... pause for drumroll... I FINALLY managed to cook them right. And they were a completely different thing altogether. I feel like I really accomplished something. I made a dish of scallops that I'd actually want to eat :) In fact I'd want to eat it all the time!! Here's how it happened...

I did a little research and the word is that scallops are only good when they are fresh, I know that you can say that of any edible thing, but with scallops its serious. Treat like sushi. If you cant get them super fresh, don't bother. So I went to a fish market in Cape May, where the boats are parked out back moored to the back door's dock. Next the scallops don't like to be cooked so much. They can stand a sear, but leaving them to cook through is like serving filet mignon well done, there's nothing well about it done so well. So with that as the rule I made some mashed potatoes (plain just some milk and butter inside) and steamed some broccoli for a side dish and both were nearly ready when heat hit my frying pan.

Take the squash, cut off the ends and then slice in about half inch thick slices so the circles are resembling the size and shape of the scallops.
Put in a frying pan the oil butter pepper and garlic, and get it nice and hot. dry the scallops with a paper towel and gently put them in the pot, work your way in a circle when you put them down, when you finish the circle go around flipping along the circle and when they've all been flipped 1 by 1 take them out into a bowl and put in the next circle of dudes etc. They shouldn't be in there for more than a minute on each side, like seriously you'd cook an egg longer. When they are all done and out toss in the squash pieces, the pan is still frying hot, lightly brown both sides of the squashes, then add the capers, wine, lemon and parsley. The squashes are kinda thick so let them sizzle in there til they are of a good consistency, 5-10 minutes on medium. When they look about ready plate the mashed potatos and brocoli and toss the scallops back in the pan remove fro heat and stir around some, then in plating put the scallop squash piccata right on top of the mashed potatos so the juice dribbles down.

I like how with this dish the squash is masquerading as the scallops. Also when serving scallops alone you can really pay attention to the not overcooking thing, It worked out really well, the scallops melted like butter in our mouths (feeds 2)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

So my new obsession is with pies, i have been making them to sell at the local produce farm stand, Gary the groceryman gives me his overripe fruits and I make them into pies. I had made a chocolate bottomed raspberry pie and a blueberry crumbletop, both of which were serious tasty and sold out ( i saved one for myself of each cause i couldn't resist. Anyway I was thinking if I were at a farm stand I'd be looking for a mini pie or a cute little personal pie, a big pie is a lot of comitment and only really gets bought by big families or big pie affecionatos ... so i tried to find little pie tins... i tried 5 stores... no luck. What I did find was a baking tray that makes a dozen cupcakes. So when I got a bunch of peaches from the market I had been working on a foil frame for a suncatcher and it occured to me that I could just build my own pie tins. Peaches fit perfect in a cupcake tin, except they are a bit too tall and also there needs to be room for the pie crust, so I got a plastic cup that fit in the cupcake tin (one of those cocktail fancy plastic cups) And I used it as the template for the foil, forming it around the outside of the cup being sure to include a lip at the top and making sure the bottom fit comfy into the cupcake tin. Since the result is larger then a cupcake would be I made 6 of these filling every other cupcake spot on the tray.

OK so that being done pie crust is next
I used the equivalent of three pie bottoms of homemade pastry
3 cups flour
3 sticks of butter (1 1/2 cups)
15 shakes of a salt shaker (like almost a teaspoon)
1 or 2 tablespoons of white granulated sugar (optional)
ice water

The thing about pie crust is the flakiest tastiest pies are prolly made near the artic circle.. all the ingredients like to be cold during the process and you should take breaks to ensure that the butter has not melted! I keep my flour in the freezer and the butter in the fridge up til the moment of use. Ok so combine all the dry stuff, then take a little bowl and fill it with filtered water an a few ice cubes. then take the butter out of the fridge and use two knives to cut it into the flour, when the pieces are small get your hands in there and quickly bust up the larger pieces so that it looks all crumbly in there. Now get a tablespoon and add about 7 tablespoons of very cold water, add it slowly while gathering all the crumbles together into a ball, as soon as it will form a ball you have enough water. don't knead it or work it as a ball just separate the ball into 3 pieces and smoosh them into 3 round flat balls and stick immediately into fridge ( or freezer) and let it chill and relax for at least a couple hours, on a hot day or if you only have an hour instead of several you might want to put in the freezer...

Roll out the dough on a clean floured surface til its like half a centimeter thick, (leave the other 2 dough balls in the fridge til you are out of the first) put them in the tins and gently press and pinch them into the shape of the bottom and sides, take a fork and score them onto the lip of the cup (this acts as an achor so the walls don't slide down in the oven) 2 balls should fit all 6 cup bottoms and the last one can hang out in the fridge for when you are making the lattice tops
When all 6 bottoms are formed stick the whole tray in the freezer for at least half and hour maybe an hour...

Now you can think about the middle...
8 peaches
a handful of rasberries (optional)
half a cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons dark honey
4-5 shots of Bourbon ( i used makers mark)
3/4 stick of butter
3 heaping tablespoons of flour
cinnamon

Ok so 6 of the peaches will remain whole and fit neatly in the middle of the pies. Get a knife and carefully cut out the pit, I've done this before without cutting all the way through but this time the pits were good and stuck in there so I just cut to the bottom and took out the middle cylinder core and left the rest of the peach whole and unharmed, skin on. The recipe calls for 8 so you have two chances for messing up.. Set the best 6 aside.

In a pot throw in the sugars and honey and butter, whatever peach bits you were able to get off the pits, and cut up the remaining two peaches, plus raspberries if you got them. cook on medium. Depending on how much you like flames you can either throw the bourbon in at the beginning to simmer its spirits off, or you can wait til its nice and bubbly in there to toss it in and ignite. Either way there is a lot of it in this recipe so it would be safer to wait a couple minutes after you throw it in before igniting (just so you get to keep yer eyebrows ;) I let all this simmer for 15 minutes til it was a bit thicker and bubbly. Then add the flour, stirring inbetween tablespoons so its worked in well, the result should have about the consistency of melted chocolate. Remove from heat.

Prebaking the shells helps them get flaky like the top and stops them from being soggy bottomed pies as is all too often the problem with fruit pies. You don't need them to brown but you will see they get a little puff going and look like they are adjusting to their shape even getting a little bit of crisp. When that happens take them out and let them cool a couple minutes, then its time to fill them.

While they are cooling roll out the last of the dough and stick it back in the fridge as a sheet.

Each little pie gets one peach, the center pit hole gets filled with the happy syrupy goodness, and top it with cinnamon. Pretty.

The last of the dough gets cut into strips that you criss cross over the tops (4 strips per pie) and whatever is left I formed into hearts for the middles (though you could put initials or stars or leaves or whatever looks good to you)

Your oven should be preheated to 350 now - Stick them in there for about an hour or til the room fills with the smell and the pie tops brown (no oven door opening no peaking, watch through the oven window if you want to drool)

Monday, June 13, 2011

This is an americanized version of the fish dish the three marias made me and my family when we visited my uncle minguccio's house in Rutigliano Italy. It's fish prepared in a pouch made of aluminum foil. It's typically served with a whole fish, head on tail on skins on bones in... a whole fish. It's gutted and the belly filled with good things. It's delicious but I don't really care for the dangerous picking through pin bone skeletons all that much, and the head on makes me feel like i'm being stared at, and think of mortality. And the skin isn't too fun either. So usually*... now, I make mine with boneless skinless tilapia fillets. :)

*cept that one time :D I was feeling nostalgic for italy and living in tarrytown and there was an old fish market by my office, a kind of westchester import grocery that is full of little old foreign ladies, getting great deals on obscure cheeses and vegetables. So I decided to make pesce pouches with whole fish, the monger offered to gut them for me, but fearing he'd take the head and tail i declined, but when I got home I noticed he hadn't cut the center either. My kitchen was white and i had no sharp knives, so the big knife i had could barely pierce the skin lol I made such a ridiculous mess lol ... After how gruesome cutting open the middle had been i decided serving them head on was not going to be appealing afterall, so I tried to cut off the head.. but every time i pushed down on the knife the head would bend toward me and the mouth would open slightly, it was pretty hysterical, my friend was there making the fish talk saying "oww quit it!" whenever the mouth opened... like it was definitely dead but the pressure from that stick of a knife not going into the neck made him kinda look up at me funny :/ lol, ... when my roomate got home we were rolling on the floor in tears of laughter and dinner was so not made... sharp knives make the hugest difference!

Anyway This is how I make this recipe these days, american style.
This is a one serving recipe! (five people = five pouches)

PESCE POUCHES

Grab a big piece of heavy duty aluminum foil, one pouch per person.
Put it in a bowl or rectangle tupperware so half the foil is kinda encouraged and pressed into a bowl shape, and there's a flap left of enough foil to seal off the top, the pouch has gotta hold juice and close well enough to seal in the steam, and be reopenable for emergency checking.

So yeah make a pouch, toss in olive oil, and stick in two pieces of tilapia, stacked on top of eachother like a sammich, or like the two sides of a big fish would be, in between add some good stuff, such as:
olive oil
juice of half a lemon (no pits)
three round slices of lemon
three round slices of lime,
pepper,
parsley,
two or three fresh basil leaves,
five or six good marinated olives (depitted - cut up),
four or five cloves of garlic cut up,

Put a lil oil and parsley on the top of the sammich and close up the pouch, steam tight, and stick on the BBQ on low for about 15 minutes, no flipping - no peaking! (I put my pouches in an aluminum foil pan for easier carrying). The Fish is done when its flaky, don't open the pouch til its done, it can open on the plate.

Serve with rice :) and a side vege like string beans or asparagus or whatever n stuff :)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Make regular pancakes from boxadd one cut up ripe pear to batterbutter skilletflip when bubblygo golden brown :)

Hot strawberry sauce:4-5 cut up strawberrystablespoons strawberry preservestablespoons of honey, and a teaspoon of sugarshots of bourbonone teaspoonn of butterheat that all up and let boil til the spirits fly away

Ok So this is a dinner I made tonight, Its my take on the nyc street hot dog - its basically what I wish a hot dog tasted like (but i they are always disappointing so i don't eat them) But in a perfect world...

Need a BBQ GrillServes 2 or three

In a medium frying pan toss in a swig of olive oil, 6 cut up cloves of garlic, and one big yellow onion, cut it on the equator, then with parallel lines to make the semi circles that separate into shoestrings. Fry up til they soften, then add: three tablespoons of ketchup, salt pepper, five or six shakes of tobasco sauce and about a cup of pineapple chunks (mine were leftover grilled ones from the night before, fresh ones can go in at the same time as the onions) Stir and saute that up til its all warm and the onions are soft, that's yer slaw for on top, serve as a hot condiment for on your dog.

Next Get 5 or six sweet italian sausage links fresh. put them in a pan of water on the stove top on medium, let them boil for about 5-10 minutes, you want them almost cooked through. Then turn the grill on high outside and brown them on the bbq. Serve on grill toasted regular hot dog buns. with mustard and ketchup on the plate.

For a side dish I made mixed fried vegetables.

I usually really don't like frying things, but the night before I made a spice boil of vegetables to accompany some live crabs I was cooking up, so I have left over veggies. They were really good the first time around but would be too soft to just warm up again so I opted to fry them for some more crunch, mostly cause I never had a fried brussel sprout before. Anyway, so I will give you the veggie boil recipe in case you want to try that too...

I Filled a pot with two beers lots of seasoned salt, lots of pepper, parsley, garlic, about a cup of water, and brought it to a boil, tossed in three or 4 red potatoes cut into hunks (skin on - eyes off) When they were nearly there, I put in a can of corn (including can juice), frozen brussel sprouts, some chopped up radish greens. When it was all a good consistency, I removed them from the boil and tossed in the live crabs... So the veggies remained veggie and made a nice side dish... After a night in the fridge they, plus some zuchini slices, were made into a side dish for this meal

To fry up mixed veggies, I dipped them in egg then rolled them in a flour mixture and fried them in a pan of hot canola oil. The Flour Mixture goes like this: a cup and a half of flour, half a cup of parmesian, salt and pepper, some parsley and some seasoned salt. After they fry up put them on a paper towel and squeeze on some lemon juice.

Served with a Saladless Salad. One Cucumber peeled and cut, one tomato, some olives, and that's it, dress with oregano, olive oil, and lemon juice.

gently defrost a bit more than a half a pound of frozen raw shrimp (pealed and deveined tail on)

in a medium saucepan with a lid boil 1 cup coconut water with 1/4 cup almond milk and 1/4 cup water and a dollop of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Let come to a boil add a cup of white basmati rice, bring to a boil and simmer covered for about a half an hour. fluff and keep the lid on when done

in a big skillet melt half a stick of butter into a quarter cup of olive oil, crack in some pepper and add 5 cloves of minced garlic, 7-8 scallions white parts chopped small green parts chopped to like an inch. drain and toss in the shrimp, let them each lay on the pan so they turn pink (add in also the peels of the lemon to brown with the shrimp yellow side down) Flip the shrimps and when they're done the remove the scallions and shrimp into a bowl so they dont overcook (toss the lemon peels - they are dead to you now). Into the sauce left still in the pan, throw in half a cup of grape tomatos (whole / not cut up), squeeze on a lemon and a half, and a cup of minced fresh cilantro. splash on a little white wine, You want the tomatos to burst in your mouth not in the pan so be careful with them and when they are about cooked reintroduce the shrimpys and you're done :) - mix with the rice and serve with a lemon slice.

serves 2 hungry people 3 regular people or about 5 models :)

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for dessert i made a pie with strawberries blueberries nutella bourbon brown sugar and butter :) in a premade crust with home made whipped cream n haagendaas vanilla ice cream mmmmmm

ok pie goes like this, the pie crusts give you 2 shells, leave one in the fridge fill the other one with about two cups of fresh sliced up strawrberries and maybe half a cup of blueberries, in a little sauce pan put 1/4 stick of butter and a shot of walnut oil, toss in 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 big tablespoons of nutella and three shots of bourbon, light on fire - say ooo ahhh, stir a little when the fire goes out, toss on the pie, then put about four or five tablespoon of jam on top ( i used stacey and stephen's wedding jam made from sweet plum and pomegranate - but you can use you're favorite) Next get the other pie shell out of the fridge cut it into strips and criss cross it on top, oven at 350 for about a half an hour (put a cookie tray under so you woon't have to wash your oven :)

1/4 cup of mixed marinated (depitted) olives (like from the grocery olive bar) mixed in are some marinated mushrooms and marinated hot peppers

So in a casserole dish (mine's deep and oval) toss in a shot of olive oil to slick the bottom, put down the nice salmon filets, put a little olive oil on top, crack on a bunch of pepper, toss ontop the scallions, chopup the marinated olives and mushrooms and peppers and Make sure there's no Pits! take all the tomato slices and circle the sides, Cut 2 of the lemons into pretty depitted thick circles, toss the ends etc, lay them on top, squeeze the other two lemons' juice on there, and you are all set, stick in the oven at 350 for 30-45 mins, when the juice starts to boil you are ready

:)

In the meantime if you are interested in a side dish i'd suggest baby bok choy

Steam* gently for 5 mins, drain pan. When ready to serve sear them in a skillet and top with a drizzle of olive oil or a couple pats of butter

*Small kitchen trick - Sooo I don't have a bamboo steamer or a metal grate thing for steaming properly so i just took a regular pan with a lid and stuck 5 or 6 chop sticks at the bottom to raise the greens mostly above the waterline :)

put it all together its fancy salmonay :)

serves 3-4

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AND FOR DESSERT

Peachy Delight :)

i got 4 ripe peaches and cut out their pits from the top (like stuffed pepper style) then in a sauce pan put 3/4 cup brown sugar and a teaspoon or 2 of cinnamon , and 3/4 a stick of butter, then heated them, stirred them up to make like a syrup (use a medium heat to not burn) toss in 3 shots of bourbon and carefully set it on fire :) - wait til flames are almost out before stirring (*note - when using this recipe, do not spill syrup while its on fire - its ok later :P ) soooo then its done and you fill the peaches with it and drizzle a bunch on their outsides (this is in a pie pan or casserole dish, they prolly shouldn't be touching if possible) throw in the oven at 350 when the fish comes out... for about half an hour, though longer works too its softer that way :)

Serves 4, 8, or 1 :)

Top with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream :)

whipped cream is the easiest thing to make, get heavy whipping cream and a little sugar and a wisk (you need a wisk) and stir it together til its whipped cream. most recipe's call for confectioner sugar cause its the lightest and makes the fluffyest cream but I went with soft brown sugar cause i dig the flavor :)

ok so put it all together and a dash of cinnamon and serve while peaches are still warm/hot

smile a lot

The End.

..YUM! :)

PS - peaches part 2:

"roasted peach buttery bourbon bowls with pancakes a la mode"

Put peaches back in oven till the juice boils to reheat, serve with a pancakes and ice cream

Ok I know its an old classic and everyone already knows how to make it so why bother mentioning, but I made a nice dinner tonight and just in case you're interested in a nod to a classic, here's a recipe for chicken francese... I ate this a lot growing up and am very very fond of it, this is my take on my mom's recipe

Mama's Chicken Francese:

4 cutlets of chicken

2 lemons

2 sprigs of fresh basil

1 cup pinot grigio

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

pepper from a grinder

a package of fresh mushrooms, baby bella or the white ones

3/4 stick of salted butter

extra virgin olive oil

5 cloves garlic

ok soooo

In the skillet:

-add 1/3 a stick of butter with 2 shots of oil, the chopped up garlic, and the peels of one of the lemons (yellow sides down)

-Get the chicken dip it in flour first then dip in the eggs and put in the hot pan, brown both sides and remove, then do the other 2 cutlets and remove, (they should be browned but not entirely cooked through) discard the lemon peels, clean pan

-In new skillet put in the rest of the butter and cup by cup fry up the mushrooms in the butter and remove to a bowl leaving the butter sauce in the pan, to the sauce add half a cup of wine and the juice of a lemon, let simmer 5 mins, put half the mushrooms in and turn off. Scald when ready to serve.

In the Chicken casserole dish add the following things:

-slick the bottom of a casserole dish with olive oil, put in the cutlets , Coarsely chop up the fresh basil and add to the dish. Toss about half of the mushrooms into the casserole dish ontop of the chicken, then add the juice of 1 lemon and half a cup of wine.

-Put the chicken in the oven at 350 for 20 mins or until ready (when juices boil)

Hey me again with another recipe, I'm at Bettina's place touching up the mural in her bedroom, so this is the thing we whipped up it a super jiffy:

2 big chicken cutlets

2 big yellow peppers cut to large french fry size

half a mango cut to large french fry size

5 cloves garlic

8 or 9 scallions

2 fresh jalepeno peppers

salt n pepper

lemon juice

1/3 cup wine

honey

extra virgin olive oil

Make Some Thai Jasmine Rice,

1 cup rice

2 cups vegetable broth

dollup of olive oil

splash of coconut water

Citrus chicken:

In a skillet heat up 2 shots of olive oil and the cut up garlic and cracked pepper

Cut the chicken into slices, brown them then flip them, then toss in the scallions and peppers, put on the lid for a couple minutes to steam.

Then toss in the mangos, wine, about 2 shots of lemon juice, and the jalepenos chopped up, let steam with the lid on for 5 minutes, then toss in about 10 mint leaves (just ripped in half). Add two pinches of kosher salt and half a teaspoon of honey. simmer for 5 mins and you're done

thai shrimp gyoza: bag of frozen dumplings ( i got mine at trader joe's - this works with any kinda frozen dumpling, shout out to you -itarians)

1 ripe mango

1 cup butternut squash soup

quarter cup pinot grigio

1 bouillion cube

half a big yellow onion

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

plum pomegranate jam (or cherry would work)

fresh black pepper

1 bunch of cilantro (maybe cuts coarsely down to 1 cup (without most of the stems)

Ok so it goes like this, put three shots of olive oil in a skillet with all the garlic cut up, get it nice and hot, toss in the dumplings while they're still not entirely defrosted, brown the outsides kinda well, toasted brown wins and remove

next toss in to the hot garlic butter half an onion cut up. When you cut it in half go from north to south pole and when you slice it go in along the longitude lines toward the core, so you have kinda grass blade shaped ribbons, fry them til they soften a little but you want them aldente so don't go crazy, remove and set aside with the dumplings.

toss in to the garlicy buttery pan half a cup of butternut squash soup, 2 thirds a cup apple sauce, two or three tablespoons of jam, a crumbled bouillion cube, pepper, three shots of pinot grigio. let simmer about 10 minutes.

cut up a mango into bite sized pieces toss in the sauce, sautee five minutes, add half the cilantro, sautee five minutes

reunite with the onions and dumplings, get it all hot

the other half of the fresh cilantro is to garnish main and individual dishes with

serves three or four

Contorti:

Serve with string beans

in a separate pan steam up about 2 cups of fresh string beans, serve aldente with a shot of olive oil and a clove of garlic cut up

brown them thoroughly in a very hot pan, take them off before they're cooked put them in a side dish and then chop up the veggies, when the sausage is less hot slice it into circles

toss in the garlic heat the pan, throw in sausage slices, onions, potatos, and peppers. fry them up a bit.

add the beans and the jalepenios and half a beer, plus 5 shakes of tabasco, lower heat and slap on the lid (try to keep the lid on from now til serving)

put in the tomato paste, pepper, basil, the rest of the beer and stir it up real good - simmer

add the okra and mushrooms, stir

rinse out the shrimp real good toss in, stir in well , and add the cilantro (save about a quarter of the cilantro for a garnish) the shrimp cooks quick so as soon as its in you are about ready to serve. turn off heat and make a side quesidilla :)

for a side i made a pepperjack quesidilla, just 2 big flour tortillas with pepperjack melted in between (frying pan and flip)- cut like a pizza n drop a dollup of sour cream on top :)

And that's about it :) Spoon into a big bowl and top with a little pepperjack cheese and a dollup of sour cream and some fresh cilantro on top

So me and my family had a yummy dinner the other night and i thought I might write down the recipe

Sorry no photo, it went gone too fast to document :)

feeds 5 grown ups and 2 tiny tots :)

So super simple,

you need a bbq and two alumininum pans that fit in there,

in one tray put peppers, i used about 4 or 5 cut up in medium sized pieces, I used a variety, two light green ones, two green bells and a red, but yknow whatever ya got, ad a few swigs of olive oil and some parsley and black pepper, and a dash of oregano

in the other tray do the shrimp, grab a two pound bag of frozen uncooked, take off their shells and tails and devein them, rinse well. toss them in the tray with 6 cloves garlic all cut up, a few swigs of olive oil, a stick of butter, parsley, pepper, some montreal steak seasoning, and the juice of two fresh lemons.

put them on the bbq, the pepper tray take about 10 minutes and the shrimp about five so stagger putting them in. Don't overcool the shrimp, when they are pink they are done so look out. Make a whole box of bow tie pasta and when everythings done combine it all in one big yummy bowl, and serve :)

boil some water and make some plain white rice on the stovetop, drop in a dollop of oil and make about 2 cups (directions on bag)

Get 5 or 6 pieces of tilapia, grease up a bbq friendly tray with some canola oil spray and put the fish in. In a saucepan make some bbq sauce.

BBQ sauce goes like this: cut up 6 cloves garlic and sautee in olive oil, throw in about a third of a cup of bbq sauce ( I used hunts honey hickory bbq sauce), add about 5 tablespoons of honey and some seasoned salt and pepper, the juice from about a quarter of a lemon, and 5 or 6 shakes of tobasco, stir it up and throw in two shots of bourbon, let that bubble a minute and set on fire to burn off the rest of the booze. Taste and make sure its a potent flavorful yummy thing, then cover the fish in it.

Take a second aluminum tray and cut up 2 zucchinis like french fry shape. Toss them in with olive oil. Add parsley and salt and pepper.

So when the rice is done and everything prepped head out to the grill, put the tin of zuchs on medium and the tin of fish on low and the pineapples on low directly on the grates.It should all take about 10 -15 mins

Serve in glass bowls, a cup of rice on the bottom and the fish, zuchs, and a big slice of grilled pineapple sittin pretty on the rice bed :) YUM!